K.B.O. Winston: Germans didn't mess with it either

Agreed with the rest of the post, but the Germans did bomb the living crap out of the ML.

UrinalPooper: They found a system of public education that delivers the best experience for smart people who lack behavioral issues?



My reaction as well. But a true bilingual immersion would be mandatory. Why do people get to opt out of it? Do they get to opt out of English classes as well? If not why not?

French for reading in grad school. Got the gist of it. More of a Spanish guy.

PC LOAD LETTER

"Agreed with the rest of the post, but the Germans did bomb the living crap out of the ML."

Alright, 'didn't mess with' is too strong. But they did go around. However, after Belguim turned down France's offer of reinforcing the border, there was a lot less to be said for it.

/still wondering what the Belgians were thinking on that one

ladylaurel18: I could almost read that. Seriously, you don't need to actually learn a language to mostly read it. D'immersion en francais is obviously 'immersion in French'. It's English, just a bit screwed with - because everything has a latin base.


Pretty much, yeah. Even if you can't quite understand it audibly, usually one can make out the gist of the written stuff with a little effort. For European languages using the Roman alphabet, anyway.

It seems to me that the biggest differences in European languages come from the grammer.

And you can usually fake your way through that by paying attention to how people who speak that language natively talk. So you can be good language having!

I took French in second grade, Spanish in eighth, German in high school - now there is a language that is near English - and Italian in college.

I studied German for just that reason - I am lazy. Being of German (well, Austrian) descent helped the decision, along with my then-dream of touring Germany.

OTOH, I really wish I could have studied Russian. What I understand of the language suggests that it is quite beautiful in its simplicity. I *am* studying Finnish, but only in the sense that Finnish is probably the best language in which to swear.

The only word in that sentence that stumped me was niveuax.

That was level, apparently?

I do know that French has a reversed adjective/noun order. I parsed "niveaux" as "new" (probably incorrect) so the phrase, to me, described a new two-system teaching method, or something.

Got most of the important words, anyway... the rest is all filler. (And that is what is so neat about Russian, there is no filler, context is down to word order)

K.B.O. Winston: /still wondering what the Belgians were thinking on that one

You know, I never ever thought of that angle LOL. Yeah! What the hell did Belgium think was going to happen? The French and British were going to protect their neutrality? LIKE WW1!?!?!?

Puddinhed: I've just now decided I don't like you

Do you have the death sentence on 12 systems?

SilentStrider: i could almost read that.
4 years of French, 13 years ago, little use since then. Woo.

Same here. The sad part? I'm in Ottawa. The farking French in Hull and Gatineau don't speak Farking French to you if they hear a farking Anglo accent. So I've lost it. Grr.

greatgodyoshi: Slamguy: これはなんですか？
What is this?

なんだこのやろ？！
What is this shiat/farking shiat?!

Jesus, I'm so lame. I can only form basic lame sentences, and my kanji vocabulary is in the double-digits. Time to go study! Have too much on my plate right now though! Wheeeee!

Okay. You were looking for:

これはなにですか

You were putting "n" instead of "ni".

Before "desu", "nani" is shortened to "nan".

PC LOAD LETTER: "You know, I never ever thought of that angle LOL. Yeah! What the hell did Belgium think was going to happen? The French and British were going to protect their neutrality? LIKE WW1!?!?!?"

Ah, so you're saying it's another case of 'we've mastered WWI, we're not worried.' Fair point.

But still, I wonder what their back up plan could've been. Throw chocolates? Tell themselves the German tourists were really out in force this season? Seems like they were taking a lot on faith there.

MIU: Ghastly: ころはのんですか。

What were you attempting to say there? Maybe 「これはなんですか。」?

Yeah, my french is a little sloppy. I haven't spoken it in years.

I learned my french here. Well, I watched Mirelle anway.

VonAether: "D'immersion en français" is equivalent to "immersion in French," in the same sense as "immersion in water."... "L'immersion français" is closer.

What French Immersion may look and feel like:

AuCinaoaMie: Not gonna RTFA. Unless you live in the cesspool that is France, or one of the unfortunates who live in lazy language speaking parts of Canada there is no use for it. None.

Yes its lazy, all those extra letters and most arent even pronounced, it just kinda trails off and sounds like a drunk who forgot how to finish saying his words.

So true!

I am an American who moved to Ontario about 3 years ago, and am having difficulty pronouncing French, because of all the dropped consonants and the 5-letter vowel combinations. I also had spent many years learning German in school, where most words wring every last sound out of each letter (and all the humongous words that have all the adjectives glued onto the noun).

/at first my spouse laughed at my pronunciation of French words
//now has just given up hope that I will ever learn it